My brows creased as I absorbed what she said. “Romeo Prince,” I murmured in reverie. He’d kissed me with such desperation, such raw need, stirred something unknown from deep within me.

“Yep, and Molly Shakespeare—hey! Romeo and Shakespeare! How hilarious is that?” Cass said, getting excited, causing her toga to nearly drop and flash more than I was eager to see.

“Good Lord! It’s meant to be!” Lexi laughed, putting her small hand over her mouth.

Shelly chose that moment to get in my face, her tight blue eyes boring into mine. “Leave this house immediately, you… you… slut!” she snapped, spraying my face with her spit as she did so.

I removed my glasses and wiped away the offending liquid with the bottom of my toga. “With pleasure. I don’t need this anyway. Coming here was one huge mistake. Cass, Lexi, I’m sorry, but this let’s all be sisters love-fest is so not for me. I’ll see you guys at home.”

I needed to distance myself from this horrid girl and stop trying to be something I wasn’t. I’d tried for my friend and that’s all that mattered. I just needed to put this entire day behind me. By tomorrow, all would be back to normal.

Cass whistled using her fingers pulling everyone’s attention. “She’s in, Shelly. She kissed a guy and guessed what he’d eaten. Don’t test me on this; everyone witnessed it. Christ, Molls was blindfolded for f**k’s sake! It wasn’t like she went after him.” With that, she folded her arms across her chest with a threatening look on her face.

Shelly’s harsh façade dropped for a moment. I couldn’t blame her; I’d quiver if I were on the end of Cass’s wrath, too.

“She’s not meant to kiss him! He’s meant to be mine!” Shelly screamed to her fellow sorority sisters, who just regarded her with varied looks of indifference.

“I think you’ll find that he kissed her… twice,” announced a gorgeous brunette who winked at me as she headed in my direction from the back of room.

She placed her hand on my shoulder. “She’s in. Don’t contest it or you’ll lose, Shelly,” she said with a gratified smirk on her lovely face. “It’s your own fault for making pledges do this shit every year, just so you and your lackeys can get your kicks. Only this time it backfired on you. Too bad, I say.”

Shelly stormed past me, but not before she prodded her finger against my chest. “Stay away from him or there’ll be trouble, you hear? You’ve no idea who you’re messin’ with, no damn idea!” She slammed the door as she exited the room.

A deathly silence ensued.

The brunette addressed the pledges. “Congratulations! You’re all now part of this fantastic sisterhood—lucky you! Kegs are in the yard. Go enjoy.”

The pledges filed out of the room with happy grins, leaving Lexi, Cass, and me with the leggy beauty. She wore a short red summer dress and had tanned olive skin, long, dark hair to the middle of her back, and dark-brown eyes. She was stunning. Like supermodel stunning.

She walked to me and introduced herself with a megawatt smile. “Sorry about Shelly. She always gets on a power trip at events like this and she’s totally reelin’ about your very heated PDA with my cousin.”

“Cousin?” I squeaked.

She laughed. “Yeah, Rome’s my cousin, more like a brother really. I’m Ally Prince. Shelly’s wanted to be his girlfriend since we were, like, ten. Just ignore her. I do.”

“She did seem a bit overly possessive of him.”

Ally guffawed. “I don’t know why. They’ve never been together officially. They just sometimes hooked up in the past, though Shelly never tends to get the memo that they’re done. Rome’s not exactly the monogamous type—he only gives her attention ‘cause her daddy and Rome’s daddy are business partners. She’s exactly who his parents have picked out for his future wife. Ol’ money types stick together ‘round here. Their folks already act as though they’re all engaged.”

My heart fell a little at that bit of information. He was meant to get engaged to her?

Ally reached out to touch my shoulder, amusement exaggerating her features. “I’ve never seen him act like that before, girl. Nor has Shelly. Hence the fact she’s having a cow. Even I thought it looked hot, and I’m his cousin and totally not into incest, FYI!” she teased.

Ally linked my arm with hers. “Let’s go grab a beer. I can tell you and me are gonna become good friends, Miss Molly, even if it’s just so I can watch you torture Shelly. Plus, I’m nominating you for one of the rooms here at the house, your friends too. We only have a few rooms left, but if you move in, Shelly will be constantly pissed, and my year will get a lot more exciting.”

3

Two hours later, I found myself sat at a picnic table on the lushly landscaped lawn with Cass, Lexi, and Ally. Lexi was sucking up to Ally as much as possible, knowing full well that Ally had been a firm fixture on the varsity cheer squad, grilling her about the tryouts and what they were looking for in the new additions. Cass was busy making googly eyes at the huge Tide player (so she informed me) that stood just to the right in full-on cowboy attire, while sipping on her contraband Moonshine.

The lack of conversation involving my input allowed my head to drift to one topic only: Rome. He hadn’t returned after the kiss. At least, I hadn’t seen him at the party, so I assumed he’d gone home. I unfortunately had to admit to myself that I was kind of disappointed by his absence. He’d gotten under my skin with his strange treatment towards me, and I couldn’t shake off that kiss. It made me think things that were not part of my usual modus operandi—things involving nakedness, beds, and a hell of a lot of sweat.

Refocusing on the conversation, I was dismayed to hear the girls switch topics from cheerleading to their family backgrounds. I decided that this was the perfect moment to take a quick breather.

“Hey, Ally, where is the bathroom in this place?” I asked abruptly.

“You can use mine, darlin’. It’s on the top floor, third on your right.” She fished a key from her purse and placed it in my hand. “I keep it locked so folks can’t use it to bang at parties like this.”

“Good thinking. Thanks. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

I walked through the patio doors and headed to the main set of stairs, climbing quickly up the three flights, trying to ignore the moans and groans emanating from behind closed doors. Ally was right to keep her door locked. It sounded like there was a pack of rutting wolves on every level.